If you’re interested in teaching and like working with your hands, you might check this out.
After-School Educator for a Makerspace/Business Program
Description:
Launch Studio is an innovative program that helps middle school students learn to ideate, design, prototype, market, and pitch their own products as they work towards starting their own small businesses. Launch Studio is looking for an enthusiastic, creative educator to teach an afterschool class at Unity Middle School.
As the class instructor, your role will be to advise students on their projects, purchase materials and maintain the classroom, and push students to improve their skills in design, making, and entrepreneurship by example.
Responsibilities:
The after-school program will begin with the 2017-2018 school year (late August/early September). The commitments for this role are as follows.
Before the school year:
Attend a 2-day training on the curriculum and tools used
Spend time becoming comfortable with the tools and making different things
Attend a general training session sponsored by ASAS
Class Preparation:
Keep track of class supplies and request more as needed
Service the machine/maintain the tools - don’t worry, we’ll teach you how!
Make things to show as examples of different concepts
Reach out to businesses or organizations in the local community to form partnerships - we’ll help you here, too!
During Class:
Engage and advise 10-20 middle school students
Facilitate teams working on independent projects that push their skills
Advise and mentor teams as they work on their projects
Take students on field trips to expand their businesses (this will look different depending on the location of the school)
Post-class:
Give feedback on the curriculum and resources to the Launch Studio team - your input will play a crucial role in the further development of our program!
Send pictures and stories to ASAS Bay Area
Communicate with the school and afterschool team about any challenges or issues that came up during class
Desired Skills:
We are looking for…
A problem solver. By nature of being a highly independent afterschool class for middle school students, things go wrong all the time. We need someone who can assess the problem and find a solution, all while supporting our students.
Someone who is organized. There are a lot of moving pieces to running this program, and we need someone who can keep their class running smoothly and their room (relatively) clean.
A strong communicator. We want to hear from you, and we want to make sure we are supporting you, too.
A creative mind! We don’t need you to have any specific creative skills. We just need you to be curious about how things are made, enjoy thinking of new ideas and trying them out, and be comfortable when experiments fail. Please break things - that’s how we learn!
Someone who is computer literate. A general understanding of and comfort around computers is essential to supporting students as they explore digital fabrication and develop their own computer literacy.
Someone independent. We’re going to give you an outline of a structure to follow. We’ll need you to fill in the details. We’ll be there as a resource to answer questions and problem solve with you, but you’ll be calling the shots in the classroom.
A level-headed person who works well under pressure. It’s not easy to break up a fight while putting out a literal fire. It doesn’t happen often… but it happens, and we want to make sure you’re ready for it.
Some nice-to-haves:
Teaching experience - Anything from in-classroom experience to tutoring to being a camp counselor! There are many ways to be an educator.
Appreciation for working with young people, particularly middle school students.
Making/DIY experience - Whether it’s a laser cutter, a 3D printer, a sewing machine, a microwave, or your hands, we’re just looking for people who love making things. Please be sure to let us know what you’ve made and what you want to learn how to make. Chances are the students want to learn how to make it, too!
Small business/entrepreneurship experience - You’ll be helping the students think about making and selling their own products, and you can give better advice and gain more respect if you’ve done it yourself.
Details:
This is an open call for afterschool teachers for the 2017-2018 school year, from August to June. You would be expected to work about 12 hours a week starting at $20/hour. Classes are four days a week at three hours per day (two hours teaching, one hour prep/clean up), and two additional hours are budgeted each week for planning, communicating with the Launch Studio team, etc. Each session lasts 10 weeks, which is the minimum amount of time you must commit to work with us. You will receive a bonus if you work with us the entire year. There are also 2 days of paid training prior to the start of the first session.
Contact:
To apply, send a short intro note and a resume or examples of your creativity/creative process (pictures, videos, instructables, a website) to xxxxxx@launchstudio.org